It’s a Date

“So, it looks like my hero won today’s competition,” June said as the other students exited for their next class, leaving John and Amelia alone with their teacher. “I am guessing your choice for the prize will also be the study of hands.”

“Yes, Miss Summers,” John replied.

“Please, John, I’ve told you this before, call me June. You too, Amelia. There's no need to be so formal when we're alone.” She smiled at the duo then picked up the drawing. “This is a really nice choice, John. I really liked it as well.” She looked around her desk as if searching for something.

“Shoot, I forgot to bring an extra portfolio for you to take this home.” She stood there in silence not bothering to make a bigger search effort. She nodded to herself as if agreeing with a thought. “I’ll tell you what, why don’t you come over to my house this Saturday? That way I can lend you one of the portfolios that I have at home, I can also show you the rest of the drawings and my other works of art. You’re welcome to come as well, Amelia.”

Originally, the girl wasn’t part of June’s plans and she was confident she could give Amelia a run for her money in regards to who gets John’s attention. She wouldn’t try to steal him from her, of course, she had seen too many signs that there was something special between the two. It was just the two-for-one special that was too much of a chance to let pass.

“We’d be happy to,” Amelia answered, catching John off guard. He just stood there with his mouth open in surprise.

“Good,” June said with a satisfied grin. “Now, John, I believe you owe an assignment.”

Noticing John blanch in response, she asked, “Oh, you forgot?” He then nodded confirming her suspicion. June saw Amelia standing beside John and put two and two together. “Don’t worry about it; from the looks of things, you have even more to write.

“I’ll tell you what, you can deliver it to me at my house. That way you have more time to write. Is that ok?” Again, John just nodded.

Before June put the drawing away, he cast observe on it and was shocked with the information it revealed.

“Great! It’s a date,” she cheered, even letting a happy squeal escape as she packed away the drawings into her portfolio. Before the two students left for their class, she gave them her address and told them to be there as early as possible, promising them plenty of time for fun.

At the Royal Residence of Queen Victoria, around the same time

Queen Victoria sat on her throne. She was having a nice relaxing day resting inside her royal residence located inside of a barrier in the South of England. She was also waiting for her great-grandniece to finally arrive and give her report. The almost 200-year-old queen had received some troubling information about a once hidden Abyssal organization. It was the reason her niece’s task was so important.

After arriving, Amanda Teck walked quickly towards the house’s throne room, happy with her job’s success in Scotland. Her plan had worked perfectly thanks to John Newman. He took care of the Bauchan Camp and she took care of the man behind their attacks. She would later have to find a way of thanking John for making it easy for her; well, easier. The man was still a pain in the ass.

As she entered the room, her great-grandaunt didn’t waste any time. “Report!” she demanded in her regal voice.

“I am happy to say everything worked out perfectly, your highness,” she said, kneeling on the red carpet before her queen. “The man behind the attacks is no longer active. It took some work but I’ve also convinced him to not participate in this year’s Gladiatorial Games.”

“Good job, my dear.” The queen beamed at her niece, then she took a serious tone, “I have another job for you. You will take his place and keep me posted on the ongoings of those games. Unfortunately, as a gladiator sponsor, you’ll have to participate in the selection process. I know, I know, it can’t be helped; that’s why I’ll try to give you enough funding to keep yours alive. I want proof of any illegal activity going on. Rumors have it that the organization’s leader, Valerius Alexander, forces kidnapped fighters to participate, the only problem is the combatants who survive the games are not willing to talk about what happened. There will be a preselection meeting taking place at his home tomorrow; you’ll have to head there as soon as we’re done here.”

“Ma’am?” Amanda was shocked at what her new task entailed.

“Yes, my dear. I need someone I can trust and that is capable of getting the job done. You are it. From my initial findings, you’ll need plenty of cash. You have my permission to do whatever you need to get the job done, with the exception of one thing: do not sign any contract that Valerius gives you. I want you to get as much information as possible but not at the possible cost it would entail if you were to sign one of his contracts.”

“Yes, Ma’am,” Amanda replied seriously.

“Now,” the queen smiled again, “tell me about the boy who helped you.”

Back at Ashcroft Academy

Nothing of significance happened during the rest of John’s morning. He sat in the cafeteria, waiting for Amelia to be done with her last class before lunch. The observe window that detailed June’s drawing was still active and he stared at it trying to figure out what to do.

What he had seen had excited him at first, but then realization kicked in. He knew he had been thinking about it for too long, the answer should have been obvious. Sure, he had a chance to access the whole work and with it gain a new skill but he also knew what his powers would do it - leave her with nothing but blanked pieces of paper. The cost was too high, he already learned from his mistake when he completely erased a book Amelia had given him long ago. He just couldn’t do this to his teacher’s work. It would be a betrayal of her trust. ‘I should just close this fucking notification and forget all about it.’

“Aaaahh!” The sound of a woman moaning loudly broadcast from John's phone.

“What the!?” he exclaimed while hastily picking it up, trying to stop whatever app was making that noise. Luckily everyone in the cafeteria was in full chattering mode thus dampening the sound from his phone enough so that only he could hear it. When he managed to stop it, a video started playing on the screen. It started with an image of the typical shady Abyss salesman, not that John knew what one looked like. Still, he had all the features of his mundane counterpart. His sparkling honey-colored eyes and million-dollar smile were part of his arsenal for conquering new customers; his silver tongue was yet to be used. John could see that he was adorned with multiple symbols of creed and practices all over his body.

“I, Omnius, invite you to my Ecstasy Empornium!” the man said, opening up his arms as a huge sign with his establishment's name lit up behind him. “Come feast your eyes - and all your other senses too - on some of the most exotic women from the Abyss.” As he said this, he was instantly surrounded by human and monster girls of all shapes and sizes, all of them reaching for him as if they were trying to get a piece of him. At a snap of his fingers, they all scampered off giggling. “We specialize in catering to those with the taste for the exotic and new experiences, along with more vanilla options as well,” he continued while slowly walking from left to right. As he did so, the scenario kept changing from a dungeon to a sauna then to a packed theatre, to a movie studio, to a classroom, to a library, and finally ending in a bedroom scenario with a heart-shaped bed. Each scenario had a girl accordingly dressed or undressed. “After all, variety is the spice of life.

“You can also, for a very special price, experience the HAREM FOR A DAY package, where multiple of my lovely ladies will spend the day and night with you, acting as your personal harem, and all the sexytimes that entails!” he said. As he sat on the heart-shaped bed, he was surrounded by a myriad of girls with lust-filled eyes almost obsessively trying to get some form of contact with the guy.

“I, Omnius, am also available for a night of pleasure you won't soon forget,” a serious expression formed on his face, “if the price - and the client - is right, of course,” he completed with a cheeky smile. “So please, come to my Empornium, and make your lustful dreams a REALITY!”

“This is a limited time offer, all girls are of the age of consent because not all kinks are meant to be satiated. The Empornium will not hold itself responsible if-” a different voice started speaking the typical sales legalese while the image from the video faded to the Omnius’ Ecstasy Empornium sign.

Even though the video stopped, John just stared at the screen. He didn’t even notice that another face was right next to his, watching the same video.

“So, which one of his girls would you fuck?”

“Amelia!” John exclaimed in surprise. “I… I can explain.”

“Relax, John!” she said with a smile. “I am only messing with you. Besides, this isn’t the worst video I’ve caught you watching.” She dropped that last little fact to tease him before snatching his phone out of his hand and rewinding the video a little. “I know the guy, well, not personally. He has been in trouble before for doing these stunts. He uses the Abyss Auction network to acquire new customers to use his services. His account will probably be suspended once again for doing this.”

“What do you mean ‘caught me watching’?” John asked, showing that her tease worked.

“Never mind that.” She waved dismissively. “I guess this is as good a time as any for me to upgrade your phone.”

She laid it on the table close to her phone. In less than a second, his phone started flashing and turned off. Amelia tapped his screen and then a white thistle flower appeared; it was progressively turning red from the bottom up.

“There, all done,” Amelia said after the flower had fully turned red. “I’ll do the hardware upgrades when I get home.”

Amelia turned to John and smiled before noticing the observe notification window still in front of him.

“By the looks of things, you came to the same realization that I did about June’s replicas,” she said, changing the subject.

“Yes,” John answered, still annoyed that he could do nothing about it. He just couldn’t betray June.

“Good, we’ll just need to find the supplies,” Amelia said.

“Supplies?”

“Yes, supplies,” she answered, looking at him funny. “We’ll need paper of similar make and quality that June used on her work, as well as ink for your quill to work. I have some ink at home that I believe should do the job; it’s one of the types that I use for the designs of my prototypes.”

The light bulb finally lit up for John. He had forgotten all about the Quill of Duplication he’d gotten as a reward from Mrs. Wentworth a few hours ago.

“Still, we need to plan this right,” she said. “Precisely duplicating sixty drawings will probably take a while and we don’t know how much time we’ll spend at June’s home. We will probably need to do some tests and see if the quality of the material will make the quill work faster.”